This week, dozens of frozen waffle brands were recalled due to potential contamination with the deadly bacteria listeria.
It marked the eighth time this month alone that American companies were forced to pull food products from shelves because of germs that cause food poisoning.
Experts warn the problem with food contamination is becoming worse as the industry grows and supply chains become more complex.
For patients, the infections can be life-changing.
Michael Silberman, 86, from Florida, contracted listeria earlier this year which led to brain swelling, causing seizures so severe doctors had to sedate him for weeks.
He is now only able to move around the house with a walker, and can’t drive, grocery shop, shower or take care of his wife Barbara, who suffers from arthritis.
He claims he caught the bug after eating a sandwich containing sliced turkey made by Boar’s Head that was part of a major recall linked to listeria.
Pictured above is Michael Silberman, 86, and his wife Barbara. Before catching listeria, Mr Silberman was living independently and able to care for his wife
Mother-to-be April Bonham, from Texas, delivered her baby stillborn at 37 weeks and two days. Doctors later determined that the child may have had listeria
Mr Silberman is suing the food giant, claiming the meat led to a listeria infection that became meningitis, causing severe brain damage..
His age makes him particularly vulnerable to listeria, but so does being pregnant, taking immunosuppressant drugs because they block the body’s ability to fight the infection.
Mother-to-be April Bonham, from Texas, was told at her 36-week scan that her daughter Olive was doing well.
But at the scan the ultrasound the next week, they were told their daughter had no heartbeat.
She was stillborn in the hospital on January 7, 2024, with her parents having no idea what happened.
It was only after tests came back that they learned her death could have been caused by listeria.
Revealing her case, mother April said on TikTok: ‘I cannot stress how scary listeria is and how there’s like no symptoms… for the mom’s carrying the baby. I wasn’t even sick.
‘I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong… I still blame myself.’
She added: ‘Delivering my baby at 37 weeks and two days lifeless, is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.’
She suffered few symptoms of listeria in the week beforehand, saying only that she became so exhausted that she slept 19 hours a day before the 37-week scan.
The mother is not sure where she may have caught the listeria, and said she steered clear of all deli meats, prepackaged meals and sushi among others throughout her pregnancy.
Ten deaths have been linked to the listeria outbreak associated with Boar’s Head meat and at least 59 others were hospitalized by late September.
The CDC notes that ‘the true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely higher than the number reported.’
People can become infected with listeria from contaminated food items, which may pick up the bacteria from water that contains feces or improperly cleaned surfaces.
The bacteria can survive the stomach acid and travel to the intestine, from which they may migrate into the bloodstream.
Pictured above is the Boar’s Head factory where reports show there were insects, mold and liquid dripping from the ceiling and onto pre-prepared food products
Most healthy adults will start to feel sick within a couple of days of consuming contaminated food.
It usually starts with flu-like symptoms – a fever, muscle aches or nausea – before progressing to vomiting and diarrhea.
Some people begin to feel sick weeks or months after the initial infection.
This is because listeria can go dormant when faced with environmental stress, such as in water without nutrients or in the presence of detergents.
In more severe cases, listeria can cause confusion, light-headedness, loss of balance and even convulsions because it can spread to the central nervous system (CNS) and affect the brain.
In the most severe cases, listeria can lead to meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord or pus buildup in the brain.
These can be deadly.
In his lawsuit, the couple say that Mr Silberman purchased the turkey from their local Publix grocery store on July 15 this year, and ate it over the next few days in sandwiches.
Seven days later, however, he started to suffer from a high fever — and then after another two days the couple had to call emergency services.
Rescue workers who came to the scene said he had tachypnea, or rapid breathing, an ‘altered mental state’, and signs of sepsis.
He was rushed out of his home in Delray Beach on a stretcher and taken to the ER, where doctors quickly diagnosed him with a listeria infection.
He spent two weeks in the hospital, with healthcare staff treating his brain swelling, cognitive complications and kidney failure.
He was then discharged to a rehabilitation facility, where he had to spend another month working to rebuild muscle mass that he had lost due to the sickness.
It was only later, that the couple connected his sickness to the turkey and the Boar’s Head recall.
Boar’s Head announced its first recall of meats on July 25 of its liverwurst, ten days after Mr Silberman purchased the turkey meats.
The couple’s attorney, Jason Cornell, told WPTV: ‘He experienced sepsis, meningitis encephalitis, very serious conditions — and he was hospitalized for a month and has no recollection of that.
‘He was thriving before this exposure, he was driving, exercising in the gym, lived in the house, lived independently… he can’t do any of that now.
‘He has to walk with a walker, so we are very concerned for him and his ability to care for his wife.’
Trevor Craig, a food safety expert with Microbac Laboratories in Pennsylvania, told DailyMail.com that the US may be recording more larger outbreaks because supply chains are now much larger than before.
This leads to more steps in the processing and packaging of food, he said, which raises the risk of the item being contaminated.
He also said that regulation authorities may now be testing more products than before, which is triggering more recalls than previously.
Darin Detwiler, a consumer food safety advocate, agreed, but added that it may also be driven by a shift in consumer preferences towards more fresh food — raising the risk of contamination.
The above map shows the number of states with listeria contamination that was linked to Boar’s Head and the number of cases in each state
CDC statistics suggest about 1,600 people are hospitalized with listeria every year, mostly aged 65 years and older, and about 260 die from the disease.
There are no good number on the number of cases and deaths per year caused by listeria linked to food poisoning.
But the tally from this year appears to be the highest since at least 2011, when 30 people died and 147 were hospitalized after eating cantaloupe’s contaminated with listeria sold by Jensen Farms in Colorado.
Boar’s Head recalled more than 7million pounds of meat and poultry after the listeria contamination was first detected in July in its liverwursts.
Since then, records have revealed that the Virginia-based factory where the meat was prepared was filthy, and contained mold, insects and had liquid dripping from the ceiling.
The couple are just the latest to sue Boar’s Head after the $1.2billion company also faced legal action from the family of a Holocaust survivor who died after eating its liverwurst and a woman in Missouri who fell ‘deathly ill’ from its meats.
It comes after more than 10million pounds of meat made by a packaging company and sold at stores including Trader Joe’s, Walmart and in children’s lunch halls were also recalled this month over listeria contamination fears.
A spokesperson for Publix, which is also named in the lawsuit, said: ‘It would be independent for us to comment on pending litigation.’
Boar’s Head did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
But a spokesperson for the company said previously: ‘[We] deeply regret the impact this recall has had on affected families. No words can fully express our sympathies and the sincere and deep hurt we feel for those who have suffered losses or endured illnesss.’
The last major recall was in 2019, when Tyson Foods recalled 12million pounds of chicken strips — but this was over potential shards of metal in the foods, rather than bacterial contamination. No deaths or injuries were reported.
